Author Topic: Side Job Suggestions?  (Read 10053 times)

nataelj

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 51
Side Job Suggestions?
« on: July 04, 2013, 10:19:52 PM »
Having finished Early Retirement Extreme recently I was interested when the author mentioned being able to make some extra money on the side proofreading or editing text online. He made the offhand comment that if he did that full time he could make up to a six figure annual income!

I'm not sure if I entirely believe the last assertion but I do believe that there are likely some ways online I could make some extra money on the side, if not that much. The idea of this appeals to me since I miss the days where working more gave me more money, and while I have a decent paying day job I sometimes have downtime that doesn't have a direct use and something I could do intermittently to make a few extra bucks would not be a bad addition to my path to FI. Of course if it only brings me $7 an hour then it might not be worth doing much, but if I traded some TV or goofing off time for some extra income I'd call that a win even at relatively low rates.

So, anyone know of opportunities for such? Know good resources for that kind of thing? Have any experience with it? I've looked around at freelancer.com and such but don't have a sense of whether and how those can become meaningful sources of income, advice? I have good literary skills and programming skills in a few languages (particularly vba), thoughts anyone?
« Last Edit: November 05, 2013, 02:03:45 PM by nataelj »

gooki

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2917
  • Location: NZ
    • My FIRE journal
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2013, 01:05:16 AM »
Contract programming work is fairly easy to come by.

My coworker created a script/app that trawls Craig's list for dotnet programming work, automatically sends his contact details, and a resume.

dweebyhawkeyes

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 98
  • Location: USA! USA! USA! WOOOOO
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2013, 02:16:08 AM »
One of my neighbors makes his entire living flipping furniture on Craigslist. If you were into woodwork or interior decorating and you have a place to store it all, I'm sure it could be done on a small scale.

I think gooki's suggestion is way better, but if you live near any schools you could tutor. Or hold SAT/ACT prep classes, which rich parents will pay WAY too much for. ;)

nataelj

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 51
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2013, 08:39:16 AM »
Any idea where the contract programming work comes from? Is there a process or site or something where I can get involved?

cerberusss

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 170
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2013, 08:49:43 AM »
Any idea where the contract programming work comes from? Is there a process or site or something where I can get involved?

The big one is elance.com but it's filled with cheap Indian contractors. But perhaps you'll be able to get a local client there.

MakingSenseofCents

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 263
  • Age: 34
  • Location: RVer
    • Making Sense of Cents
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2013, 01:45:43 PM »
My side income is now higher than my day job income. I do a little bit of everything.

http://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2013/07/june-extra-income.html

Frankies Girl

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3899
  • Age: 86
  • Location: The oubliette.
  • Ghouls Just Wanna Have Funds!
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2013, 03:57:54 PM »
I've always had my freelance gigs offered to me through relationships with coworkers. I don't like to freelance (did it once upon a time because I definitely needed the income), but I still get the offers and could probably drum up a profitable little side business that would keep my busy in my off-hours quite easily if I wanted it.

Don't forget to let your friends and family know you're open to taking on freelance as well. You never know who they might know that mentions they need someone to do something.

And then there is the old fashioned "stick a notice up on the bulletin board" type of thing. While it's much easier to reach a huge audience through websites like Craigslist, you never know when someone out at the grocery store or gym will happen to see that flyer just when they are looking for someone.

You've probably already thought of this, but might want to create a new email addy just for freelance work so that you're not giving out your main contact info to perfect strangers. :)

cerberusss

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 170
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2013, 12:51:09 AM »
I have good literary skills and programming skills in a few languages (particularly vba), thoughts anyone?

If you can program in VBA, then you can also learn to program in Java and Objective-C. I've taken over a side business from another programmer. It's an app that he no longer wants to maintain. So I've paid him a lump sum, and now I have a steady side income.

It's useful if you don't want to start from scratch.

nataelj

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 51
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2013, 09:34:19 AM »
hmm, that sounds interesting. Is there a forum for such things or were you just lucky enough to know someone in that situation?

cerberusss

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 170
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2013, 10:23:39 AM »
hmm, that sounds interesting. Is there a forum for such things or were you just lucky enough to know someone in that situation?

There's a number of sites that offer this. For websites, the most well-known is Flippa. For apps, I like Apptopia.

hybrid

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1688
  • Age: 57
  • Location: Richmond, Virginia
  • A hybrid of MMM and thoughtful consumer.
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2013, 07:39:14 PM »
I make money on the side doing residential and small business IT work, and I charge $50 an hour.  Of course, IT is also my day job so I'm basically just doing more of the same.  So my question to you is "What do you do" and "Can you make some bank on the side doing the same thing?"

nataelj

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 51
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #11 on: July 08, 2013, 03:39:13 PM »
cerberusss, that Apptopia site does look interesting, is that what you used? Do you have any insight or advice for the process?

hybrid, I unfortunately am under some policy restrictions with my day job that might complicate things if I make money doing something too similar to what I do for work, so while I think I can use some of the programming/excel type skills that I also use at work, a direct sale of what I do at work isn't possible for me. I haven't yet figured out a way to ask for an exception on that or worked out exactly what the parameters are so I'm treading carefully there for now and looking primarily at other things.

cerberusss

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 170
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2013, 12:01:28 AM »
cerberusss, that Apptopia site does look interesting, is that what you used? Do you have any insight or advice for the process?

Well, my experience is limited. But how I went about it, was to scoop out the site for a couple of weeks and get a feel for what's on sale. They give you sales numbers, so you can do your own back-of-the-envelope calculations and see whether there's a nicely priced app for you. The sales process is quite pain-free -- they have dedicated staff. And nowadays, Apple allows you to move apps from one dev. account to another, which is a huge advantage.

cerberusss

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 170
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2013, 01:20:33 AM »
Kicking up this thread from early July; on the Making Sense of Cents blog, an on-topic entry appeared:
http://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2013/08/diversifying-your-income.html

This really rings true to me. I had to try different strategies to finally get a side business on track. And I'm still not sure whether I hit the mark. First I worked for clients and outsourced, then I worked for clients myself, and finally I'm now trying the independent software developer thing.

It's pretty hard work, diversifying your income :-/

jrhampt

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2016
  • Age: 46
  • Location: Connecticut
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2013, 07:21:09 AM »
At various times, I have:

taught/tutored SAT, GMAT, GRE
done contract work for Educational Testing Services (scoring and developing the TOEFL online - you need an MA in TESL for this, but there are other tests without these requirements)
taught an ESL course for a friend in Costa Rica
sold clothing on eBay
been a promotional model/spokesperson for various products

I stopped doing any side jobs during grad school, but I should start picking this up again now that I'm finished.  I recently started a blog as an experiment (not sure if this will ever become profitable), I may try to pick up the work with ETS again, and I have an offer from one of my professors to teach a class in their program.  I've also considered trying to get certified as a fitness instructor or taking tax prep classes and trying to do that seasonally.

tomsang

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1085
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #15 on: August 02, 2013, 07:41:19 AM »
The real season is up, but you can easily make a few thousand a month being a ticket scalper. You can call it a broker if that makes you feel better. Sign up for all the big name, sell out band fan clubs, get an American Express credit card, and figure out how to get qualified for presales of tickets that will sell out. Buy the tickets and the resale them at double or triple what you bought them for a few months later.

2 hours a week would net you $2,000 a month. You have to be able to buy the tickets when they go on sale, which tends to be 10am ish. So that could be problematic for some. Maybe an IPAD and well timed bathroom breaks could be the most lucrative 10 minutes of the day.

We tend to go to a large number of shows by selling some tickets and using some. If you treated this as a business, you would sell them all.

Good luck

Tom

nataelj

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 51
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #16 on: November 05, 2013, 02:05:08 PM »
Thanks all, still rereading your replies and considering.

cerberusss, how's the side developer thing going?

cerberusss

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 170
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Netherlands
Re: Side Job Suggestions?
« Reply #17 on: November 05, 2013, 07:16:37 PM »
cerberusss, how's the side developer thing going?

Okay-ish. I invested about 4K, taking over a micro-business by another developer, but it's a lot of work. I need to find the place where the sales numbers get higher, so that means getting the app ready for Apple's latest updates, thinking about a good interface, paying a graphics designer, and then do the programming. And then do the marketing.

In the meantime, I get sales in the $200/month range, so in a year or two, I've got my investment back. Not bad in principle.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!